How Should Cubs Fans Receive Willson Contreras Tonight?

Standing O the first time. Full stop.

If they want to give him a chorus of boos as a joke-that's-maybe-not-totally-a-joke the 2nd time he bats, I'm ok with that too.

It's probably going to be half-and-half. Contreras was an enjoyable player on the Cubs, but there's going to be some people in the crowd who haven't gotten over his comments on the Cardinals.

Yeah you have to cheer for him the first time.

After that though, anything is fair game.  I'll personally still cheer for him, but he leaned hard into his heel turn so if he gets boos then so be it

1 hour ago, Matt Trueblood said:

"How do you tell somebody that you care about deeply, 'I told you so.'?", asked Michael Scott, rhetorically. "Gently, with a rose? In a funny way, like it's a hilarious joke? Or do you just let it go, because saying it would just make things worse? Probably the funny way." Cubs fans are in a similar dilemma Monday.

 

The Cubs begin their season series against the Cardinals Monday night at Wrigley Field, which means that Willson Contreras is coming back to town. He arrives at a personal nadir, and the team he chose (and who chose him) this winter is at a collective one. Contreras has been moved semi-permanently into the designated hitter role, having had his beloved catching duties stripped amid the Cards' dreadful start. The Cardinals themselves are off to their worst start in about 50 years.

Until this weekend, it was an interesting and thorny question how the fans should react when Contreras is announced for his first at-bat after departing via free agency. After all, he made All-Star teams and hit big home runs for the Cubs. He was one of the faces of the young team that won the World Series, and that then won two more division titles (even if one came in the farcical 2020 campaign) before collapsing. Yet, after signing with St. Louis this winter, he said some things that felt (from the tunnel-vision perspective of a Cubs fan) needlessly antagonistic toward his former employers.

 

The further away from his (multiple) tearful sendoffs at Wrigley Field everyone got, and the more Contreras talked, the more it seemed reasonable that fans might boo him, or elect not to react, rather than unfurling an adoring red carpet, as they have done for all other returning ex-Cubs from the almost-dynasty.

Now, though, there's a new wrinkle, and I think it's a clarifying, edifying one. The Cardinals are scapegoating Contreras for their miserable start. He's being blamed for not meeting a standard or adopting a style they clearly failed to communicate to him, since (see above) he was nothing but eager to learn and embrace their style. This is a pattern, for both the Cardinals manager Oli Marmol and their front office, headed by John Mozeliak. 

Marmol threw Tyler O'Neill under the bus in a public way after he failed to adequately hustle early in the season. Even last year, in relatively halcyon times, he seemed to hold the clubhouse together largely thanks to the influences of Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina, and Albert Pujols. With two of those three gone this season, and with a new cast of coaches (perhaps because of his style of interpersonal management), Marmol has been lousy at taking responsibility and deflecting blame from his players. In fact, he seems to repeatedly focus the glaring spotlight right on those guys. 

That's a bad way of doing business, but it should surprise no one that he's doing it. He's learned from the best. Six years ago, during a much less bad but similarly frustrating stretch of play, Mozeliak made another ex-Cub to whom he had committed nearly $90 million over five years his scapegoat. He made public remarks critical of Dexter Fowler, whom the team had also already moved off of the position (center field) they signed him to play.

Looking at the Contreras situation carefully, it seems like both he and the Cardinals organization simply underestimated and disdained the Cubs, to their own detriment. Contreras didn't accept the feedback the Cubs gave, repeatedly, over the final few years of his tenure with the team. He didn't believe them when they told him that he needed to change things about the way he called games, handled difficult innings, and prepared ahead of time. He thought they were the stupid ones.

Mozeliak thought so, too. He signed Contreras to replace Yadier Molina because he thought the Cubs were incompetent. The Cardinals saw the way Contreras and the Cubs moved toward a slow divorce, and heard the noises the Cubs made about Contreras's defensive shortcomings, and they chalked them all up to the Cubs not knowing what they really wanted, or not being willing to spend money, or not knowing how to coach up and communicate with Contreras.

By no means are the Cubs infallible geniuses, and they did make mistakes both in their development of Contreras and their handling of the final couple of years of his time with them, from a contractual and transactional perspective. However, right at this moment, they look much smarter than do either Contreras or the Cardinals. St. Louis comes to town bloodied and reeling. Contreras comes in with a bruised ego and a limited ability to impact games. 

On the field, then, the Cubs just need to take care of business. They need to win this series, in convincing fashion, putting the final nail in the Cardinals' coffin and giving themselves more momentum for a month-long stretch of challenging baseball ahead. For fans, though, the choice has been made equally easy.

You cheer for the guy. Remember the hit he had during the key rally against the Giants in the 2016 NLDS, and the home run he hit off Clayton Kershaw the night the (non-scape) goat was finally slain. Remember the pickoff throws and the roars after big hits, and remember him using a naughty word on stage at Cubs Convention.

 

Contreras was flawed as a player and immature as a person, and Cubs fans don't need to spend the series venerating him, let alone the whole year. For Monday night, though, the first time he steps to the plate, they should stand and applaud. There are few virtues more noble than generosity of spirit, and given what his new team has just put him through, an ovation in honor of the good he did while he was a Cub is the generous thing to do.

 

 

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Yes, I agree with this as a fair and noble course of action.   Could the Cubs have handled some aspects of this better...sure.  But I find it a bit amusing that it took the Cards all of a month to find out what the rest of MLB already knew.   I mean you don't have to take the Cubs from offices and coaches word for it, listen to the Cubs pitchers.  Their constant and almost unanimous praise of Gomes spoke volumes.  And the hands off from contending teams that needed a catcher at the deadline last year, specifically Houston's flat out telling you why they did not go through with the trade should have all been clues.  Yes, he can hit....for a catcher.  But now and it's not all that surprising honestly - the Cards are paying 5 years - $85 million for a .250 hitter with 15-20 HR power for an DH and part time outfielder.   

One more cheer for the memories.  he got well enough send off at Wrigley on multiple occassions last year, one more is sufficient. 

3 hours ago, Matt Trueblood said:

Mozeliak thought so, too. He signed Contreras to replace Yadier Molina because he thought the Cubs were incompetent. The Cardinals saw the way Contreras and the Cubs moved toward a slow divorce, and heard the noises the Cubs made about Contreras's defensive shortcomings, and they chalked them all up to the Cubs not knowing what they really wanted, or not being willing to spend money, or not knowing how to coach up and communicate with Contreras.

Maybe you could give a pass to the Cardinals for thinking the Cubs didn’t know what they were doing with Contreras, but I’m not sure how they looked past the fact that nobody else in baseball wanted to give up a prospect to get Contreras at the deadline last year. 
 

it’s one thing to think you’re smarter than the Cubs. Thinking you’re smarter than everyone else in baseball, too, seems like a particularly Cardinals form of arrogance. 

There's absolutely no doubt in my mind he gets a standing ovation:

1) He won a world series with the Cubs, and had one of the bigger hits during that run.  He was a part of 3 other playoff Cubs teams too.

2) He had nothing but praise for the Cubs, Cubs fans, etc for his entire 7 year career here.  He brought passion and energy to the game and acted like a leader the previous 2 seasons when the Cubs were bad and had a lot of young players.

3) The Cubs made no attempt to resign him at all.  He was forced out in a way by Cubs management so he's under no obligation to not sign with their arch rival....if anything this may have drawn him to the Cardinals

4) A couple of comments to endear himself to his new fanbase do not erase 7 years of nothing but love for Cubs fans.  I would have liked it if he approached it differently, but I'm not going to boo him because of it.

For all those reasons, he deserves a standing ovation tonight and I'm sad that he might be booed.  But either way I hope he goes 0-5 with 5 strikeouts.

Boo this man

Stnading Ovation it is

Just now, Derwood said:

Stnading Ovation it is

I'd say that was a decidedly mixed reaction. Lots of boos. Camera caught a couple guys flipping him off in the bleachers

7 minutes ago, Andy said:

I'd say that was a decidedly mixed reaction. Lots of boos. Camera caught a couple guys flipping him off in the bleachers

A lot of people stood to boo lol

Wrong thread 

1 minute ago, javy knows my name said:

Wrong thread